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John Donne's Apocalypse

This thesis explores John Donne's vision of the Apocalypse as revealed by his religious poetry and prose. Donne believed himself to be alive in the last age of the world; however, he rejected historicist interpretations of the Apocalypse. Instead, he located the conflict with sin and death within the individual soul. Donne was concerned to create an image of the sinful soul restored to unity with the divine through its own exertions and by God's grace, free from social and political constraints. The Apocalypse presented Donne with a paradigm of unity which he appropriated in order to represent the interconnexion of God and humankind, as well as to situate himself within a present unfolding of ultimate conformity. Knowledge of the role of the Apocalypse in Donne's self-presentation, provides an awareness of the extent to which Donne understood himself to be an active participant in the fulfilment of the Providential design.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.60624
Date January 1991
CreatorsHolmes, Michael M. (Michael Morgan)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of English.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001260118, proquestno: AAIMM72239, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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